Lord_Of_The_LEGO wrote:But Dale didn’t mind. He was happy. Alice was happy. That was what mattered.

Grid: P-10 Location: Hemmerington

A month had passed. A month of joy and happiness. Life in Hemmerington was quietly peaceful. Even the arrival of three young travelers by the names of Hans, Adrian and Cate hadn’t really upset the peace. The day the three travelers left Hemmerington to continue onward to the coast, it snowed in Hemmerington. The snow was soft, deep and brilliantly white.

“Oh, Dale, come look at this!”

Dale got out of bed and pulled on a cloak. He joined Alice by the window.

“Beautiful.” he said, pressing close to her.

For the past month, Dale and Alice had been living together in his small wooden house. Despite several rumors floating about, they shared only the house, and not the bed. Their relationship was growing, strengthening as the days passed, but they had mutually agreed to certain standards.

“So,” said Dale, “Winter is truly upon us.”

“Yes indeed.” said Alice, smiling and returning to the cooking fire, where she prodded the coals.

Dale sat down on his bed and began to pull on thick, bear-hide boots.

“Where are you going?” Alice asked.

“Out,” Dale replied, “To aid Kevin and Lansen and Herman and the others clear the streets.”

“Alright. I’ll have breakfast simmering.”

Dale shoved open the door and squinted as the cold bit him. Feet crunching on the snow, he shut the door and took up his shovel.

“Looks like I’ll be shoveling more than dung today!” called Kevin, laughing and waving at Dale from a distance.

“Indeed!” Dale responded.

His shovel sliced easily into the newly-fallen snow, and with a grunt his tossed a shovel full to the wayside. By midmorning all of the street cleaners were hot and steaming from their labor, but the streets were relatively clear, and the other residents of Hemmerington began to move about. Dale returned home, where, as she had promised, Alice had breakfast waiting.

Lord_Of_The_LEGO wrote:“Come! Mistress Korvalt’s breakfast is ready. Hurry up and get dressed!”

“I’m done!” said Hans, leaping over his bed and joining Cate, “Seeya down there.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.” said Adrian, “Fend off those three Korvalt boys from Cate for me, will you?”

Adrian chuckled and Cate laughed. Hans smiled and said, “Will do.”

Grid: P-10Location: leaving the Dark Forest village of Hemmerington

After breakfast, the trio paid for their keep and, after saying goodbye to the residents of Hemmerington they had become acquainted with, they began their slow journey to the coast. Despite rather good directions from Old Gherry, they were pretty much lost by mid-afternoon. And Hans reckoned that they had traveled only a few miles.

“Tyco this snow!” burst out Cate, “Why snow now? Why?”

“Fate has a cruel since of humor.” said Adrian wryly. He looked at Hans. “Fine, then. There’s that signpost saying Josstshire is twenty miles. Where do we go now?”

Hans squinted at the damp map in his hands that Gherry had drawn.

“Uhh…that way.”

Hans pointed to a thicket.

“Wonderful.” sighed Adrian.

“Hey!” snapped Hans, “That’s the only way to the coast from here! Once we reach the coast it’ll be easy; we’ll just have to travel north until we come across Meritimus.”

Soon Thenais found himself alone in the prow of the boat. He could hear Hullin barking orders over the sound of waves breaking near by. Now the noise grew louder as Thenais felt the ship gain speed. Louder and louder still until he couldn’t hear Hullin. Then the small vessel rose on a wave and with a blast of spray, passed over the ring of stones. In that instant the veil was lifted for Thenais and he thought he would be blinded once again. It was like stepping from darkness, through a curtain, into the blazing sunlight. Spreading out before Thenais, a great green island with high mountains, rolling hills and a wide bay before them.

Thenais could see it. He could actually see it. And what was more, he remembered. Thenais remembered everything.

He remembered the childhood he spent living with his mother in the small sod home which also served as dwelling to his grandparents and aunt. He remembered the days he spent watching the sheep out on the slopes with his cousins and nights, gathered around the hearth, listening to his grandfather tell of the chivalrous deeds of old. He remembered the hours spent in anticipation, waiting for his father’s return. And the moment when two figures would appear over the hill and he, along with his cousins, would race to meet their fathers. He remembered the day he was initiated into the Men of Valor. The day he was inducted into the family business. He remembered saying the oaths, receiving the sword, and kneeling in front of his father. The patriarch was invisible, but Thenais couldn’t see him as he placed his hands on the shoulders of his son. Even the words, he remembered.

“My son, you are ready. Ready to begin the task that this line has dutifully upheld for generations. Today you will become, as I and my fathers before me have been, a chronicler. A man to preserve the tales and stories of the past for those in the future. Many tales you already know. Many more I shall teach you over many tomorrows. But today…today you will inherit my gift.” The invisible man leant forward touching his forehead to that of his son. “You are a Man of Valor.”

Thenais remembered the smile on his father's face as he lost his invisibility. He remembered that day and wondered now, how on earth he could have forgotten it.

But no. He did remember. He knew. For after after years of studying under his father and years of traveling Dametroes learning yet more tales, there had come a day in Orion. A day on which he had stopped for a moment in a square, to listen to a magician there, telling the tale of how he had traveled to acquire certain materials for his fireworks.

Confidently, he told his tale, setting off effects at skillfully chosen moments to increase the dramatic oratory. It went smoothly until one of the fireworks misfired, sending it off with blinding speed, into the face of the invisible watcher.

“Thenais, are you alright?” The beggar (or Man of Valor, as I ought to call him) suddenly found himself back in the boat, beholding that land of his own boyhood. “Thenais.” Iirick repeated. “Can you see it?”

The beggar nodded, but he wasn’t really listening. A thought was running wildly through his head until it finally worked it’s way out in two whispered words. “I’m home.” Thenais said. “I’m home.”

Orion had been uneventful. Valric had made his report, some of it, Theodore was sure, they did not believe, but that didn't concern them. As Valric so eloquently put it, "So long as we did our duty, Tyco what they care."

They had rested a day in Orion, making full use of both their positions, and then Theodore had tried to get Valric to see the doctors and druids. Valric had refused, claiming that his wound was as good as it was going to get without more rest, and no one could make it better. The pair had left for Castleton that day.

The two had been very lucky. They had managed to get a ride on one of the last carriages heading that way. As an old man stated, snow was not far off. Fortunately, they encountered no snow while traveling the Royal/Classic trade route, one of the best and fastest roads in Dametreos. Once the carriage dropped them at Orlan though, the snow had struck. No carriages and few wagons would be moving now until spring. Still, the two knights were not worried. After spending a night in the city's keep, they got horses and prepared for the relatively short journey to Castleton.

As they rode out the gate, Theodore grinned. "Seems ages ago when me and King Lego retook this place from the Falcons, but now that I think it about it, it was about a year ago. Time sure does fly." As they went by the city's outer wall, the knight pointed to a culvert.

"That's how we took the place. Me and couple men snuck under there and opened the gates from the inside. Chodan, that seems like ages ago."

The two rode on for an hour or so with out encountering any being save for the occasional farmer. Then, as the sun lit up the beautiful white landscape, the two knights overcame two other travelers.

One was a roguish looking man, wrapped in a long brown cloak with a matching hat set at a jaunty angle. Just visible, poking out from his cloak were two rapiers. The other was taller, and as the knights could tell, a warrior. He wore a curiously carved helmet, a few small pieces of armor over top of some strange purple material. On his back was slung a spear and katana. Though he had no cloak and his clothing looked thin, the stranger did not appear to be very cold.

"Good day travelers." Greeted Sir Theodore as he and Valric rode up. "Fine day isn't it?"

"Hello," responded the cloaked man. "Though you'll forgive me if I say that nothing is fine about such a miserably cold day."

"Oh come now," said Valric. "It is surely cold, but not unreasonably so. Do you expect it to be warmer?"

"No," replied the man, "but I haven't been inside for the last three days. Lets just say that I miss feeling my toes."

"Oh?" Asked Theodore. "Where have you come from?"

"Orlan, and before that Ninjara."

"Then you should been inside last night. Don't tell me every room in Orlan was taken."

"No, but we umm, have no money, and its rather hard to rent a room without some."

Theodore frowned. "But surely someone would have taken you in. Or at least have given you a stable or something."

"Under ordinary circumstances yes." Said the other stranger talking for the first time. "However, my friend here got in a little trouble with the locals and we got kicked out of town by the guards."

"It was an accident," mumbled the first stranger.

Theodore raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, so I accidentally burnt down a stable. It was an accident."

"That it sadly was." Claimed the second stranger. "My friend is, shall we say, a bit clumsy when he has a couple ales. Fortunately, all that came from it was the loss of all our money and a forced ejection from the city. Meaning we had to spend a night outside."

Valric thought this extremely funny, as did Theodore. After choking back a few laughs, he said. "That’s an interesting tale. Where are you two headed?"

"Castleton."

"What a coincidence, so are we. If you will not begrudge our company, I can see to it that you are warmer at night, in exchange for more tales. It has been too long since I last laughed."

"No problem, we would be happy to have and entertain you. My name is Aiden and my friend is Kae-Os."

"A pleasure. I am Sir Theodore Colger, a general in the King's army. This is my good friend Sir Valric, one of the Emperor's men."

"Nice to meet you." Said Kae-Os. "Though you may regret asking Aiden for tales. He has a bad tendency to exaggerate."

Maedhros wrote:Swift turned without another word and disappeared in the darkness. Hidemitsu sighed deeply, fell down on his knees and buried his face in his hands.

Grid: E-13Location: Ninjarian Coast

The whole night and the whole day Hidemitsu had just sat there on the spot where Toratsugu had died. No one had dared touch him or the pile of ash and no one had spoken. The others were mourning their loos on the ship and casting occasional glances at Hidemitsu. The had no leader now, the Soke was dead and his favourite student and captain of the ship was just sitting immobile and crying.

The sun had set and darkness fell across the land. The first day without Toratsugu had passed and Hidemitsu finally opened his eyes. He hadn´t slept a second but he had been in a deep state of meditation. You have to do something, Hidemitsu, he told himself. The others need you, you can´t just sit here.

Suddenly he heard a low and hoarse voice. It was singing, it was a strange song with a hard and aggressive rhythm.

"We have no sympathy for the lost souls
we've choosen the path of disgrace
We give this life to our children
and teach them to hate this place

Man dies like a butterfly
Life burns from the touch of the reaper
All things must pass
One love is a crooked lie
The world lies in the hands of evil
We pray it would last"

When the song had stopped Hidemitsu peered into the darkness. He spotted a vaguely familiar shape in the darkness.

"Angel", he growled. He stood up and drew a katana.

"You will pay, monster!"

"No", the same hoarse and low voice said. Hidemitsu´s katana caught fire and he released it.

But Hidemitsu didn´t want to talk, he wanted to rip Angel to pieces. But then he felt his body being pushed down by invisible hands and he found himself sitting on the ground. Angel sat down in front of him and met his gaze. Once again his eyes were visible. But now they shone a deep scarlet.

"Please listen, Hidemitsu-dono", he said. Hidemitsu raised an eyebrow when he heard what Angel called him.

"Very well, I´ll give you five minutes, then I´ll kill you", he said.

"If you still wish to by then I´ll let you", Angel replied in a tired voice.

Hidemitsu wasn´t convinced but somehow it felt like Angel meant what he said.

"I need to tell you a story."

"I don´t want to hear you bloody stories! I just want to rip your head from the accursed body of yours."

Angel sighed. "Of course you want, but please listen."

Hidemitsu nodded and frowned.

"Long ago, hundreds of years before the first Ninjarian emperor was born, Ninjara was ruled by the Celestial Circle. They were a body of five divine beings who ruled justly over the people. Each one of them represented one of the five elements: water, metal, earth, wood and fire. But soon the population grew too big to control even for those divine beings..."

"And what the intellabrix has this to do with Toratsugu?" Hidemitsu shouted. He spat at Angel who didn´t move an inch.

"Everything", he replied. "Please let me continue."

"They chose to give some among the mortals special powers. And thus the Celectial Tigers were created. They... we were given eternal life and extraordinary powers. When the Celestial Circle had done this they decided to retire from the world and they joined the Sun and Moon in Heaven.

But unfortunately things didn´t go as they had planned. As in all things, power corrupts and slowly the Celestial Tigers became tyrants and opressors. In about thousand years they had fallen from grace and what would become ninjara fell into corruption and disgrace. And then the Celestial Circle acted.

The Sun was the first to act actually, She pushed on the Circle who finally cursed us. They couldn´t remove our powers, but they could make our lives unbearable. The Sun wanted us all dead so since then we were burned by Her. But the Moon was calmer and more forgiving, She weeped tears of soorow instead of anger and let us live freely in her light. But the Celestial Circle fillowed the Suns footsteps and made everything in this world deny us. And since then we have needed to take force from the living to survive. We weren´t the Celestial Tigers anymore, we were the Devil-Tigers.

At the same time the first emperor of Ninjara ascended and ruled with the divine blessing of the Sun. He began a purge and for ages a long and tireing war raged. But he had a certain weapon, the Celestial Circle had blessed him with a Jade Talisman that he could use against us. With the Talisman he could summon us and command us to do his bidding as long as he didn´t make us deny our true purpose.

We had also been robbed of our ability to breed so in the long term we stood no chance. And finally only two of us remained. It was me and a woman called Xui who was later kidnapped by people from the east who used her powers to curse a barbarian chieftain called Striga and then they killed her.

And only I remained of the Devil-Tigers. I went into hiding and since then I have acted very few times and slowly the people have forgotten. But I still remember my true call. I may have become a Devil but I still judge the unworthy."

Angel had stopped and looked at the dark sky. Hidemitsu just looked at him for a long time and then he spoke:

"But... why did you act on the orders of the Shogun? Why did you kill Toratsugu, Yoritada and Yasuanaka?"

Angel met Hidemitsu´s gaze. "Not only the Devil-Tigers were forgotten, so was the Jade Talisman... until the current Shogun found it about a month ago. So as long as there was some trace of wickedness in you I had to follow his orders and slay you."

"But now Swift is gone", Hidemitsu sighed. "And our hearts are true?"

Angel nodded. "The one who truly deserves to be punished is the Shogun himself, I hope you will succeed but I can´t help you..."

"But if we find the Jade Talisman?"

Angel stood up. "You are wise, Hidemitsu-dono. I had hoped you would figure that out by yourself."

Hidemitsu nodded. "So if we find it you could slay the Shogun?"

"True.... and i would love to..."

Hidemitsu stood up too. "That song..."

"Oh..." Angel chuckled slightly, the sound was hollow and hoarse. "I made it up when the Celestial Circle and the Sun cursed us. It was some kind of rebellion against the forces we could never defeat. Our hearts were full of pride back then." There was a short silence and then he continued. "Five minutes have passed. Do you still want to kill me?"

Hidmeitsu nodded. "Yes... But I won´t do it... now."

Angel nodded. "Thank you."

Hidemitsu wasn´t sure what that thank you meant, he had a feeling Angel really had a deathwish.

"I think we will meet again, Hidemitsu-dono. Until then I wish you good luck."

Hidemitsu bowed. "Thank you."

Angel turned and slowly walked away. When he was gone in the darkness he sang again:

It is the end of all hope,
To lose the child, the faith.
To end all the innocence,
To be someone like me.

No will to wake for this morn,
To see another black rose born,
Deathbed is slowly covered with snow.

Angels, they fell first, but I'm still here
Alone as they are drawing near.
In heaven my masterpiece will finally be sung.

It is the end of all hope,
To lose the child, the faith.
To end all the innocence,
To be someone like me...

Formendacil wrote:"No," he said. "He's only be fatherly. And I agree with him. There seems to be more to this illness than meets the eye."

"Well, anyway," said Estella, rising suddenly. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." And she walked away before he said another word.

They were now several days out of Iadoraz, and well into Royal Knight territory. The weather had been lousy, with several light flurries and the occassional freezing rain.

William Jorgenson possibly had it the worst, having taken up the reins as the carriage driver. He had actually never driven a carriage before in his life, but he had the knack of working with animals and was soon driving like an old hand.

Sir Yves was riding alongside on his own horse, solitary. A miserable position, perhaps.

"That young Thomas is a tough one," William said to Sir Dractor that night as the two of them stabled the horses at an inn in the Royal Knight town where they were staying. It had been the worst day yet, freezing cold rain and a gale of a wind. They had stopped early because of the cold.

Sir Dractor turned to William skeptically. "In what way?"

"Riding in the carriage with those lasses all day," said the outlaw. "Give me the rain any day!"

"Well, since we were going to do that, in any case," said Sir Dractor, "I suppose it's just as well that you relish the task. But I fail to see what you find so repugnant about riding with the ladies. Unless it's your sense of tough manliness that is repelled."

"Nothing like that," said William. "I wouldn't mind riding in a warm carriage myself. But it's been over a week, and he's been trapped with those two the whole time. He must be out of his mind by now with female chatter."

"It doesn't seem like it," said Sir Yves, who had been stabling his own horse. "The lad sits with Merina every meal, and talks with her until he turns in. I think you're reading it wrong, Jorgenson. I think it's Estella who's to be pitied."

"Estella?" said William. "Doesn't she get along with them? I thought she liked Thomas?"

"She did," said Sir Yves, "when she was the only lady in the group and got the attention from all of us. But she's feeling rather slighting since we took up with Merina. I've known Estella since she was a baby, and she's always been a little touchy, but having her trip to Orion sidelined, while picking up a new- and more charming, no offense to Estella- young lady, who has usurped the majority of the chivalry... well, it was bound to rankle."

"Sir Yves is right," said Sir Dractor. "And Thomas and Merina aren't helping matters. I doubt if either of them intend it, but Estella feels quite left out around them, like a third wheel on a two-wheeled buggy."

"Are you saying that Thomas and Merina..." said William.

"Maybe," said Sir Dractor. "So far, I don't think they know it themselves, but I can see romance in their future. So can Estella, and she's feeling very left out. And Thomas and Merina both have a lot more in common with each other than they do with her, and she's feeling the rub."

"So what if they do get together?" said William, his mind on the new topic.

"I certainly won't discourage it," said Sir Dractor. "Who was it that decided that Thomas would ride in the carriage?"

"I thought you just didn't want to sit with the ladies for two weeks," said William.

"You're wise in the ways of the wild," said Sir Dractor, "but you are quite naive about some other things, my friend."

It had been a very long day. But it had been a good day at least. Hikoshige sat down on his bed and breethed a sigh of relief. No trace of the shinobi in a week, that Angel fellow seems to be doing his work, he thought contently to himself. After a few minutes of pondering he stood up and walked up to the window. He looked at the countless lights of the huge city beneath, his city. He smiled broadly.

"Why so happy, Kuwatoga-dono? This can´t bode well", a low hissing voice from a corner of his room said. He span around and found himself staring at Angel who just stood there leaning on his bed.

"What are you doing here?" He sneered. "You should be out killing shinobi. Be gone!"

"I´m afraid you are wrong, Kuwatoga-dono", he replied dryly.

Hikoshige frowned and pulled forth the Jade Talisman from an inner pocket. It glowed slightly green and cast an eerie light over the room.

Angel shrugged his shoulders and sat down on Hikoshige´s bed. He pulled forth his nagamaki and started examining the blade carefully while humming on a dark and sad melody.

"Don´t you feel its call?" Hikoshige said in a panicked voice that he had hoped would be intimidating.

"My work is done, Kuwatoga-dono. I have rooted out the evil among the shinobi and made sure their hearts are true. Now they will succeed."

"You shall obey me!" Hikoshige shouted and took a few steps closer as if he believed the light of the Talisman would burn Angel. Angel just sat silent a few moments, then he was suddenly gone and the moment later Hikoshige felt the heavy blade of a nagamaki lying on his shoulder. He looked down and saw that the edge was an inch from his throat.

"You have no idea of how much I would like to judge you, Kuwatoga-dono", Angel growled from behind him. "But you still have one edge over me, but I think you´ll lose it in time."

Then his body erupted in flames and the moment later Angel and the flames were gone. Hikoshige turned around and glanced over his empty room. He was shivering and had cold sweats.

"Hisanori!" He shouted.

Two minutes later the door opened and his trusted advisor Hisanori entered slowly.

"You called, milord."

"This... Angel", Hikoshige said. "He has betrayed us. The Talisman no longer holds power over him."

Hisanori raised an eyebrow. "Oh, he was here?"

"Yes!"

"And I assume you´re still alive, milord."

"Correct", Hikoshige growled.

"Then the Talisman can´t have lost its power. If it had, he would have killed you without doubt. I guess he fulfilled the mission you gave him."

"But how can he have done that?"

"As I have said many times, the shinobi aren´t to be taken lightly. They are zealots with pure hearts who fight for freedom and justice."

"They are simple thieves and murderers!" Hikoshige snapped.

Hisanori sighed deeply and sat down. "You can´t keep on pretending you are a just ruler, milord. If you would like justice and freedom you have to commit suicide. Your conscience is as black as mine."

"Shut the tyco up!" Hikoshige said. He glared at Hisanori who calmly met his gaze.

"I was born to be the ruler, I am the true ruler. I rule by divine right!"

"No, I´m afraid you´re mistaking yourself for the Emperor."

"Don´t you dare tell me he should rule in my place!"

"Why would I?" Hisanori chuckled. "He would have me killed before I could say: Tyco."

"Enough of this gibbering, what shall we do?"

"I think we´ll have to wait and see, milord. We have to let the shinobi take the first step. If we are lucky they will attempt something foolish. In the meantime, send out more spies and assassins to dispose of as many you can find."

Hikoshige nodded. "Very well... Good night, Hisanori-san."

Hisanori stood up and bowed deeply. "And the same to you, Kuwatoga-dono."

Luca dizzidly opened his eyes and glanced at a middleaged knight who stood poking him.

"You´d better get up, Luca. The ceremony will take place in an hour."

"Huh?" Luca replied tiredly.

"Ambrogino´s ascenscion of course. Get dressed and comb your hair, you can´t look like that", the knight said with a kind smile.

It was Sir Pietro Canazargi. Luca had served ten years as his squire and Pietro was almost like a father to Luca.

"See you soon", he said and then he exited the room.

Luca stretched and yawned. He was in his little room in the manor. The room wasn´t very comfortable, it was more like a prison actually but comfort wasn´t important. If they were to fight evil they had much worse concerns than that.

Luca stood up. It was still dark outside so he lit a candle and then he began dressing. He took his best ceremonial robes, thsi was going to be important. Ambrogino would soon ascned to the post of Grandmaster of the Order. The old Grandmaster, Mircea hadn´t been heard from in more than a month since he left to root out the corruption of Milash. The High Commander had also disappeared in a rescue mission and for a time it had seemed the Order wouldn´t recover. But now, under the strong hand of Ambrogino they would prosper again.

When he had dressed he looked at himself in the mirror and tried to do something about his hair. It was usually very hard to get it to look good. But what did it matter really? He was a warrior after all, not a simple pretty noble.

He lit another candle to see properly and the moment later the first candle expanded and the flames rose toward the ceiling. Luca shouted out in shock and jumped backwards from the table with the candle. But the huge flames only lasted for a moment and then it was back to usual. Except that a dark shape sat on the table.

"Good morning, Sir Luca", a hoarse and low voice said.

The shape was clearly human except for two huge wings which sprouted from its back. The face was red and it wore a black helmet which was curiously alike the ones used by the Order. In his hands he held a big weapon which reminded Luca of Ninjarian swords.

Luca backed off further and grasped for a sword on the wall.

"No need to do that, Sir Luca", the voice continued. "I would kill you anyway."

"Speak out your mind, monster", Luca growled. His hand was close to the sword on the wall now and he tried to meet the gaze of the stranger. The only problem was that it had no eyes.

"Stop calling me, monster", the stranger replied in a menacing voice. "Monsters are unrefined and savage... I´m a devil."

Luca grasped the sword on the wall and jumped at the stranger and cut a mighty blow.

There was a loud clang and Luca´s sword broke. The stranger had barely moved at all but now he pointed his weapon at Luca.

"Sit down, Sir Luca", he hissed. "Sit down and listen."

Luca sat down almost immediately. Something in the voice of the stranger made him obey.

"I want to ask you for a favor", he said in a calmer voice, but it still sounded unnatural.

"What?"

"I want you to stop this ceremony from taking place."

Luca stood up violently and his eyes flashed.

"Stop the ascenscion of Ambrogino?!"

"Yes indeed", the stranger replied in a calm voice. "You shouldn´t choose a new Grandmaster before the old one is fully dead."

"What do you mean? Mircea died in battle with the twisted forces of Milash."

"So it may seem. But actually he didn´t, he did something totally different..."

"How dare you dishonor our old Grandmaster?" Luca shouted.

"As I was trying to say, he didn´t die", the stranger continued calmly. "He awakened an ancient strigoi."

Luca stared dumbfounded at the stranger.

"Strigoi...?" He said after a long silence.

"An ancient evil, and the strigoi thanked Mircea by making him a strigoi too."

Luca shrugged. "Why should I believe you?"

The stranger shrugged his shoulders. "That´s up to you, Sir Luca."

"Continue", he said in a gruff voice.

"This strigoi, Laurentiu Strigulea to be precise could prove to be really dangerous if left unchecked. Therefore you should have interest in slaying him. And I can help you."

"You just called yourself devil", Luca snorted.

"Devil-Tiger is the correct term", he said calmly. "You wouldn´t understand."

"What is it that you want then?"

"Primarily I want you to welcome Mircea and Ignazio back and give them their proper places in the Order."

"But what happened to Ignazio?"

"Mircea passed on his curse to him..."

"But what good will this be? Why should I do this?"

"Because if you don´t, that strigoi will become to dangerous."

"And how can you help?"

"As I said my curse is related to the strigoi. The strigoi were cursed in a ritual using the body of one of my brethren as focus. So I have unique insights into them, no one will know their weak sides as I do. And I also have another weapon..."

"What kind of weapon?"

"You will know in time. Now please do as I have told you and interrupt the ceremony. I must be gone, the sun rises any moment."

Luca opened his mouth to reply but then the stranger was gone in a big tounge of flame.

Luca sighed deeply and looked at the rising sun on the horizon. Why should I belive that thing? He asked himself. But can I afford not to?

Maedhros wrote: Luca sighed deeply and looked at the rising sun on the horizon. Why should I belive that thing? He asked himself. But can I afford not to?

Grid: J-14 Location: Manor of the Order of the Dragon

Luca sat on the front row in a big church. The walls and ceiling were made of white marble and with the morninglight shining through the huge windows the whole church seemed to glow. About a hundred Brothers of the Dragon were sitting in the church and waiting for their new Grandmaster.

Luca sat with his face in his hands and tried to make up his mind. What should he do? Should he believe the devil?

"Calm down, Luca", Sir Pietro whispered.

Luca looked up and realized that he was shivering. He offered Pietro a weak smile and tried to concentrate.

Mircea is still alive...

A door in the back of the church opened and he heard steps from three men. They walked slowly. After a while he could see Ambrogino coming flanked by two senior Brothers of the Dragon. They slowly walked up to the altar with the red dragon.

Ambrogino slowly turned around and faced the church while the other two men pulled forth a small crown and a golden staff with a dragon head.

Luca closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

One of the men raised the crown and held it just an inch above Ambrogino´s head...

"No!"

Luca stood up and glared at the frowning Ambrogino. Every face in the whole church gazed at Luca. He felt his face going a scarlet colour.

"Sit down", Pietro hissed.

"No, my friend", Luca said determinedly. Then he turned to the rest of the crowd. "Grandmaster Mircea is still alive", he said loudly.

There was no sound at all in the church except the pounding of Luca´s heart.

"How dare you?" Ambrogino finally sneered.

"A Devil-Tiger told me." Luca had no idea of why he said that. It would hardly make them less hostile to say that he dabbled in the affairs of devils.

"A Devil-Tiger told you?"

"Mircea and Ignazio are alive and are fighting a new and terrible enemy in the Fright Knight lands. They need us."

Ambrogino´s eyes seemed to flash a red colour for a moment and then he burst out laughing.

"How can you dishonour them like this? They died noble deaths in fights against the Fright Knights."

"No!" Luca shouted. "They are still struggling against the ancient strigoi. We need to go to Milash and help Mircea."

"Out!" Ambrogino shouted with a terrible grimace on his face. Pietro stood up and grabbed Luca´s arm. He looked both sad and angry.

"Go, Luca", he whispered.

But Luca pushed away Pietro and turned back to Ambrogino.

"Trust me", he said.

Ambrogino hissed loudly and now Luca was sure that his eyes flashed a red colour. A few more Brothers seemed to have noticed now and murmurs erupted in the church.

The corruption has already reached Dashria and the Order...

Luca shrugged and concentrated. he had heard a voice in his head. The he met Ambrogino´s gaze.

"You are already lost, Ambrogino", he said.

Ambrogino roared loudly and jumped at Luca who quickly dodged. Ambrogino hit a bench and struggled to keep standing a few moments, then he turned growling towards Luca again.

But now every single Brother of the Dragon had arisen and everyone stared at Ambrogino.

"You are all damned", he shouted and then he grabbed Luca´s neck with lightning speed. Luca tried to struggle but Ambrogino´s grip was to strong.

"The Dragon!" he managed to shout. The a flash of white light hit Ambrogino right in the face and he flew backwards shouting. Luca looked up and saw that one of the senior Brothers pointed at Ambrogino with the golden staff. Ambrogino was shaking badly and blood flowed from his mouth and nose.

"You... you will all die... you can not... you can not win... death to you all..."

Then he stopped shaking and lay there motionless. After a few moments a Brother bent down beside him and touched his neck.

Vidkjal sat on a stone and surveyed the vast dark sea. The sun had set three hours ago and he was alone in the darkness on the shore. The Einhärjar had moved to the village now and lived there side by side by the shinobi. Of course they had some problems every now and then but overall it had become better than Vidkjal had thought. They had a mutual respect for each other.

He heard light steps coming towards him and tunred around to see the old face of Katateru.

"What a beautiful night", the village elder said.

Vidkjal nodded.

"Would you mind lighting a fire, Vidkjal-san?"

Vidkjal raised an eyebrow. "No... but I thought you liked the darkness better, Katateru-dono."

Katateru smiled. "I do, but tonight we will have a special guest."

Vidkjal shrugged his shoulders and began lightning a small fire.

Several minutes passed in silence and warm flames illuminated the shore. Finally Katateru patted Vidkjal on the shoulder.

"He´ll be here within a minute."

Then the flames rose up against the sky and took the shape of a man. The flames lowered once again and a man walked out of it. He bowed lowly before Katateru and offered Vidkjal a nod.

"Good evening, Katateru-dono and Vidkjal-san", he said in a hoarse and low voice.

Vidkjal nodded to the stranger. The stranger was indeed strange. He was dressed in black with a brown cloak and huge red wings erupted from his back. His face was red and he had a black helmet on his head. In his hands he carried a nagamaki.

"Good evening to you too", Vidkjal said.

"Just call me Angel."

Vidkjal nodded slightly. What kind of man could this be?

"Have you been to Dashria?" Katateru asked.

Vidkjal shot a confused look at Katateru who focused his gaze on Angel.

"I´m sorry", Katateru said. "We are talking about a certain order of the Dragon that we hope could help us. Angel is trying to convince them that we share the same view."

"And what is my part in this?"

"You will sail to the Western Knight´s Kingdom and take them from there to Kyoregoto", Angel replied.

Katateru nodded and after a few moments Vidkjal nodded as well.

"When should I depart?"

"As soon as possible", Angel replied.

Katateru nodded.

"I need to leave you know", Angel continued. "All this traveling takes its toll on me. I need blood."

Katateru nodded.

"A small band of bandits has settled down only a few kilometres away."

Angel bowed. "I´ll find them, thank you."

Katateru returned the bow and Vidkjal confusedly did it too. Then Angel spread his wings and quickly and silently disappeared in the darkness.

"Blood?" Vidkjal spat. "Who is this thing?"

"His ways are cruel, but his heart is good."

"But...can he be trusted?"

"I would give his life to him if needed, just as Toratsugu."

Vidkjal raised an eyebrow. "Toratsugu? Has anything happened?"

Katateru nodded sadly. "Yes, I will tell everything in due time. Now, I wish you a good night."

Vidkjal bowed. "The same to you", he said hesitantly.

---------

"Did you hear her screaming as I ran her through with my katana, Claw?"

The man called Claw nodded with a broad smile. "It was simply beautiful, Blade. What a lovely day."

All five bandits laughed heartily. They were in a small house by the coast. They had taken the house from a peasantfamily which now lay buried outside.

"Now let´s see if they have something to drink", another man said.

"That will be the perfect ending", Blade said laughing. But suddenly his laugh stopped and he stared at the door.

"Enough of this, sinners."

Before anyone could react Blade´s blood was splattering over all of the room from his neck. A dark shape whined through the room and toppled a table and put out every light.

"Here it ends, agents of wickedness", a low voice hissed.

The four remaining bandits fumbled in the darkness for their weapons. One of them slipped on the blood and fell. Immediately a high-pitched shriek was heard and then there was only silence.

"Knife?" One of the bandits said worriedly.

"It´s over..."

There was another shriek and another thick silence.

"Face you Angel of Death..." A voice whispered from behind.

The two remaining bandits dashed in the other direction. One of the stumbled over something soft and hit the floor with a loud bang. Then there was a loud crack as his spine was broken.

"You have nowhere to run, fool. The Angel of Death has found you..."

Claw tried to get out of the window but a hand with fingers of iron clutched his neck and threw him across the room. His arm was broken as he hit the wall. With a moan of pain he stood up but it was too late. Two sharp fangs pierced the skin on his neck...

It was well past midnight but Luca couldn´t sleep. He had been shocked by the revelation of Ambrogino but at the same time he was a bit proud of himself for speaking out against the corrupt knight. The rest of the day had been devoted to planning their trip to the north. Luca was terribly tired but his head was so full of things that he couldn´t sleep.

There was a light knock on the door and Luca span around.

"Yes?"

The door slowly opened and the enigmatic stranger entered.

"You..."

"Just call me Angel, or Angel of Death if you prefer that", he said dryly.

"I did as you told me to", Luca said hesitantly.

Angel nodded. "Good, how did it go?"

"Ambrogino had already been corrupted by twisted forces. He was killed by the holy light of the staff of the Grandmaster."

Angel nodded again. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"We are planning on an expedition to the north."

"I would actually suggest going southwest", Angel said.

"Why?"

"When you come to the coast a man called Vidkjal will pick you up and take you to the capital of Ninjara."

Luca stared wideyed at Angel. "Ninjara? What in the Dragon´s name would we do there?"

"You will help the shinobi restore power to the Emperor."

"The shinobi?"

"A group of oppressed Ninjarians who fight against the Shogun", Angel explained in a dry voice.

"And how will that gain our cause?"

"When that is done, a whole nation will be behind us in our fight."

"But..."

"I have to go, Luca. Trust me", Angel said. Then he threw a black piece of cloth at Luca and walked out of the room.

Luca picked up the piece of cloth. It was black silk and it was adorned with a red dragon. He recognized it as the banner of Ninjara. Suddenly he understood. With a smile he looked at the dragon on his tunic and then back to the miniature banner. Angel was right.

The day had come for Pyriuss to embark on his secret mission, without his brother. It was a cold frosty morning in the surface world. Pyriuss was overjoyed to see the sky again, but that was dampened a bit because it was a dull grey with the ocational flurry in the air. It seemed as if their expedition into the wilderness was to begin with a blizzard. Pyriuss stood ankle deep in the soft snow. Behind lay a hidden entrance to the fortress, the dark maw was virtually seething with shadows, it made the landscape seem almost cheerful. He shivered at the thought of ever returning there and knowing that it would probably be a long while before he could return to a warm bunk again.

He turned to see a dozen shadow knights assembled around him. A ten man squad of regulars would accompany him on his mission. Besides them, a knight in ruff’buff armour flanked by bodyguards was issuing commands to the squad sergeant. Pyriuss had already gotten the “victory or death” speech.

The sergeant wore a suit of highly polished armour, like many low ranking officers, it seemed to be a faint tinge of red rather then the usual metallic crimson. He had the standard rub’n buff helmet, his beard and sideburns had been cut in the standard style of the majority of the army. He was the embodiment of everything a shadow knight was meant to be. Pyriuss could bet that in the Vindicator asked the man to slice his own foot off, the Sergeant would do it without a second hesitation.

The other nine men were regulars through and through. All of the them had or were growing the stand black beards. Each had armour in various states of good condition. Each had a black battle axe and a small knife at their belts. According to the knight had briefed him, the squad had ambushed a column of jelly beans twice their number and sent them flying without a scratch.

Before Pyriuss had realized it, the knight and his bodyguards vanished into the dark depths of Kinopokar, the snow covered boulder/door sliding closed behind them. Pyriuss suddenly felt very alone. Ten heads rotated towards him in unison.

Pyriuss was dumbstruck for a moment and didn’t know what to say, “what are you waiting for? Start moving.”

Eight of them remained silent and began walking in a two by four column down the road. The ninth shadow knight followed a moment later with a pony laden down with supplies. The Sergeant stood around expecting an order, shrugging, he jogged over to take the lead in the column.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

They marched for an hour, maybe two. What started out as a light snowfall was steadily getting heavier. Pyriuss just felt like falling over and dying of boredom. It seemed his companions were too disciplined to talk about anything. It was just putting one foot in front of the other over and over again.

Suddenly he remembered all about his mysterious orders. Cursing himself for being so stupid, he pulled out the parchment and began to read it. It was rather had with snow flakes falling on it, but Pyriuss knew it would be miles before an enemy town or a break. Fumbling with it, he reread it twenty times to make sure he had it right.

Pyriuss son of KyriousKnight of the ShadowThird Regiment

Your orders are to infiltrate Vermicus’s domain and proceed into his fortress. You are to take note of it’s defenses, layout and the geography of the surrounding territory. Make a note of an accurate count of the numbers of his followers and whatever group they belong to.(mercenaries, orcs, traitors etc…) Most importantly, you are to penetrate Vermicus’s inner circle, discover the names of all of our officers who have turned to him. Do anything necessary to learn of his plans for Dametreos. If it is necessary to feign joining them, do what must be done, if we are to succeed in this we must have absolute perfection. Your squad is to help you penetrate enemy territory, as it is incredibly hostile to lone minifigs, even Vermicus’s. They are ready to give their lives for you if it is required. Burn this document once it has been committed to memory and surely before you enter Vermicus’s stronghold.